Franciszek Honiok
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Franciszek Honiok | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1896 |
| Died | 31 August 1939 (aged 42-43) |
| Cause of death | shot by SS team |
Franciszek Honiok (1896 – 31 August 1939) was a Polish male civilian who is famous for having been the first known victim of World War II, on the evening of 31 August 1939.[1][2]
He was one of several victims of the Gleiwitz incident, a multi-part false flag operation contrived by German Schutzstaffel (SS) Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler and his deputy, Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, as a pretext for carrying out German Führer Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Poland.[3]
A self-described Silesian (German: Oberschlesier, Silesian: Ślōnzŏk), Franciszek Honiok was a 43-year-old unmarried Catholic farmer and agricultural equipment salesman. Born in 1896 in Upper Silesia (a border region spanning present-day Poland and the Czech Republic), he had fought on the Polish side during the 1921 Silesian Uprisings that followed World War I. After a brief spell living in Poland, he returned to Germany in 1925, where he was forced to fight deportation back to Poland—a case he successfully pursued all the way to the League of Nations in Geneva. Though his firebrand days may have been over by 1939, Honiok was still well known in his home village of Hohenlieben (modern-day Łubie), about 10 miles (16 km) north of Gleiwitz (modern‐day Gliwice) and at the time a part of Germany, as a staunch advocate of the Polish cause.[4]
Arrest
Honiok was arrested by the SS in the village of Ostwalde on 30 August 1939, having been selected as a person who could provide "proof" of Polish aggression against Germany. He appears to have been selected because of his reputation as a Polish nationalist, which derived from his involvement in a number of local revolts against German rule in Silesia two decades before. According to his surviving family in Poland, Honiok identified strongly with Silesia and Poland. Following his arrest, he underwent a brief incarceration at the police barracks in Beuthen.
